Connect through email

Hello!

Today, we’re all bombarded with product choices. If you want to stay top-of-mind with your customers, try email marketing.

Email marketing is a great addition to your other digital marketing activities. Why? It builds customer loyalty and engagement without breaking the bank. And it works well on mobile.

In this video, we’ll show you how to develop a contact list and how to speak to different audiences based on their interests. We’ll also discuss how email marketing helps you build relationships with customers.

As with any type of marketing, your first step in email marketing should be to set goals.

Do you want to use email to showcase products and services, and bring more visitors to your website? Do you want to use email to drive business results, like distributing a coupon that brings in at least 10 sales? No matter what your goals are, a good place to start is by building a list of people who’ve expressed an interest in your business.

So how do you find these people, and get their email addresses? Start by asking them.

Let’s say you own a pet supply shop. When you chat with customers, offer to send discounts and special offers if they provide an email address. If you have a website, you can include a form and encourage visitors to subscribe online.

Keep in mind that people must give you permission to send commercial email, and many countries have laws that require consent.

Great. Now you’ve started building a list of people who want your emails. Now let’s think about the ways email marketing can help you achieve your business goals. You don’t want to overwhelm customers with too much content in one email, or too many emails in succession. Start with a friendly “hello” and introduction. Next, you might send information about your shop and the product lines you sell. At this point, you can ask them one or two questions to narrow down their interest a bit. (You don’t want to send dog lovers cat food coupons).

Then, when you have information about your customers you can send specific offers, or content they might find interesting. For example if you know that a group of these customers recently purchased dog food, you might showcase your most popular dog toys, collars and leads.

Be sure to include useful information and relevant offers, like tips for dog training, or a coupon for dog treats.

While you’re educating your customers about your business, you can use marketing emails, to learn more about them as well.

Ask your subscribers if they are interested in receiving updates about other products or services. Then find out how they prefer to hear from you.

For example, do they want to receive emails weekly or monthly? Record what you learn in your email contact database for future email campaigns. How about people who have been on your contact list for a long time? These loyal customers are really important to your business. And it’s a good idea to build a positive, lasting relationship with them. So, how might you go about this?

Well, people appreciate when you anticipate their needs. Let’s say certain customers have ordered a flea and tick treatment through your website in the past. Summer is approaching and along with hot weather comes tiny pests that can harm your furry friends.

So you put together an email with tips for keeping your house, and pet, free of ticks and fleas. You might include an offer for 20% off a pre-season order of their preferred brand.

Or, from time to time, you might send your loyal cat owners a small gallery with some of the funniest cat videos on the Internet.

By making your content entertaining and useful, your subscribers will enjoy and appreciate your emails, and you’ll likely remain their go-to choice when they’re ready to buy. Finally, you can use email to request feedback from your contacts about their shopping or customer-support experience, and then respond to them directly.

By knowing what went right, or what went wrong, you can offer solutions to their issues, or simply thank them for being a customer. So that’s it. Email marketing is a great way for you to develop relationships with both potential and existing customers.

As you identify your different audiences, you can customise communications, based on their particular interests. By offering useful and engaging content, you can build loyalty over time. A strong customer base will help your business grow.

If you want to learn more about email marketing we’ve got lots coming up. We’ll discuss the different email marketing services and their specific features. We’ll also show you how to write an email that will connect with your customers.